Control valve

ABSTRACT

In a piston valve, two valve chambers are interconnected by an axial bore in the piston through which liquid flows continuously. As the liquid pressure in one chamber increases, it moves the piston and closes the valve. The closing movement is controlled in the following manner: a liquid receiving chamber receives liquid from that chamber and trickles it through a nozzle when a pilot valve is open, and is shut off from the chamber to increase the pressure therein gradually when the pilot valve is closed. A tiltable bucket is mounted to receive the trickling liquid and has a pilot valve opening cam for closing the pilot valve when the bucket has been filled with liquid trickling from the nozzle and for opening the pilot valve when the bucket is in the opening position ready to receive the liquid from the nozzle.

[ 1 Mar, M, W72

@UNTRUIL VALVE Inventor: Einar Skappel, Nysetveiess Ranfass,

W9 edes. Filed: Jan. 9, 1969 Appl. No.: 790,042

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 11, 1968 Norway ..ll5/68 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,273,579 9/1966 Koculyn.,137/624.l4X 3,272,225 9/1966 Frampton ..l37/624.l4-X

Primary Examiner-M. Cary Nelson Assistant Examiner-David R. MatthewsAttorney-Kurt Kelman [57] AMSTRACT In a piston valve, two valve chambersare interconnected by an axial bore in the piston through which liquidflows continuously. As the liquid pressure in one chamber increases, itmoves the piston and closes the valve. The closing movement iscontrolled in the following manner: a liquid receiving chamber receivesliquid from that chamber and trickles it through a nozzle when a pilotvalve is open, and is shut off from the chamber to increase the pressuretherein gradually when the pilot valve is closed. A tiltable bucket ismounted to receive the trickling liquid and has a pilot valve openingcam for closing the pilot valve when the bucket has been filled withliquid trickling from the nozzle and for opening the pilot valve whenthe bucket is in the opening position ready to receive the liquid fromthe nozzle.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures CONTROL VALVIE The invention relates tocontrol valves for fluids and particularly to automatic control valveswherein a piston is moved to and from a closed position by fluidpressure of a medium flowing to and through the valve.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a valve whichautomatically will control the flow of a fluid through the valve andwhich is operated by the pressure of the fluid itself without givingrise to any line shocks or water hammer as the valve is opened orclosed.

A further object is to provide a control valve of the characterdescribed to control automatically the spraying or sprinkling ofgardens, parks, plantations or similar objects which needs spraying ofany kind of fluid.

The present invention is directed to an improved control valvecomprising a valve housing, a valve head closing said valve housing atone end, the valve housing having an inlet port at the opposite end anda stepped bore being formed through the valve housing with the minordiameter bore nearest to the inlet port and a valve seat being formed atthe junction between the said minor bore and the inlet port. Said valvehousing also comprises an outlet port or passage branching off the saidminor diameter bore, a stepped piston slideable within said stepped boreand a valve being formed on the end of the piston for seating in saidvalve seat, a bypass extending from said minor bore to the major borebehind the piston and a breather passage connecting a part of said majorbore in front of said piston with the atmosphere, the valve furthercomprising means for regulating the pressure in the major bore behindthe piston.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptionof preferred embodiments of the invention when considered in connectionwith the accompanying drawing and the novel features will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. IS A LONGITUDINAL SECTIONAL VIEW OF A CONTROL VALVEINCORPORATING THE INVENTION IN A FIRST EMBODIMENT AND FIG. I is alongitudinal sectional view of a control valve incorporating theinvention in a first embodiment and FIG. 2 is a side view partly insection and on a reduced scale of another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1 of thedrawing the invention consists essentially of a valve housing I beingclosed at one end by means of a valve head 2 and having an inlet port 3at the opposite end, a stepped bore being formed through the valvehousing I and comprising a minor diameter bore 4! nearest to the inletport 3, a valve seat 5 being formed at the junction between said minorbore 4 and said inlet port 3. The valve housing I is at the inlet endprovided with a flange 6 and/or internal pipe threads 7 for connectionto a fluid line or by means of an adapter to a hose (not shown). Thevalve head 2 is connected to the valve housing 1 by means of stud boltsand interposed gasket or any other desired connecting means (not shown).The valve housing I further comprises an outlet port or passage 8branching off the said minor diameter bore 4 and forming an acute anglewith the longitudinal axis of the valve housing I and integrally withsame. Similar to the inlet port 3 the outlet passage 8 is also providedwith a flange 8b for connection to a fluid line or may have pipe threadsas already described (not shown). In axial movement with the minordiameter bore d the valve housing ll comprises a major diameter bore 9extending from the minor bore 41 rearwardly to the valve head 2. In thethus described stepped bore 4, 9 correspondingly stepped piston 10, 10ais arrange axially slideable and having a valve seating member ll formedat one end for seating in said valve seat 5 in the closed position ofthe valve. The stepped piston 10, 10a is provided with sealing rings l2,l3 respectively on its smaller and greater diameter portions. Thesesealing rings may be made integrally with the piston or may consist ofany suitable sealing rings arranged in recesses in the piston in a knownmanner. Furthermore the piston 10, Illa has a bypass passage 114arranged axially through same and connecting the minor bore 4 with themajor bore 9 which bores are otherwise sealed off by sealing rings l2,13. The bypass passage M serves as a throttle and may comprise a filterhaving a predetermined throttling effect (not shown). In order to letthe piston It), 10a slide freely in the stepped bore of the valvehousing 1 the portion of the major bore in front of the piston portionis connected with the atmosphere by means of a breather passage 115.

Furthermore, the major bore behind the piston portion Illa is connectedwith the outlet passage 8 by means of a small diameter channel 116branching off the passage 8 at right angle.

In cases where the valve shall operate as an automatic regulating valvein a fluid supply system the above described embodiment will besufiicient for operation of the valve by fluid pressure alone and morespecifically the pressure of a medium flowing through the valve. In suchcases the valve described above will function as follows.

Initially the fluid will enter the valve though the inlet port 3 openthe valve by pushing the piston 10, 10a towards the valve head 2 becauseno counter-pressure will exist in the major bore behind the piston. Itshould in this connection be noted that the back side of the piston l0,Illa which is representing the largest surface of the stepped piston hasseveral projections l9 to prevent the piston from blocking the channel16 during its opening movement. In open position of the valve the fluidwill follow two flow lines, one directly through the outlet passage andthe other through the bypass M to the major bore behind the piston andfurther through the small diameter 116 to the outlet 3.

In this embodiment of the valve according to the invention the piston 10is actuated by the existing pressures in the inlet and outlet lines andthe valve will move to its closed position if the pressure in the outletpassage 8 rises and thus increases the static pressure in the smallchannel 16 connecting the outlet 8 with the major bore behind he piston10, 10a. Consequently this very simple valve construction may forinstance be used for water supply systems or other fluid systems whereinit is important to maintain a certain water or fluid level in areservoirand will automatically close when a predetermined level is achieved.

For maintenance purposes or for manual control the valve may be providedwith a shut-off valve 17 which may be manually operated by a hand wheel18 as indicated in the drawing. It will however be obvious to expertsthat this auxiliary valve 17 may be a pilot valve actuated in a numberof ways,

- for instance by means of a float or similar means or by a solenoidcoil remotely controlled in order to function as a shut-off valve.

With reference to FIG. 2, which represents a preferred embodiment of thecontrol valve assembly, the valve assembly comprises similar componentsas described above with exception of the valve head 2 which in thisembodiment is further developed in order to provide a control valvesuitable for automatic watering or spraying of gardens, parks,plantations and any other objects which need spraying of any kind offluid.

Like elements functioning in a like manner have been designed by likereference numerals in FIG. 2 to avoid redundancy in the description.

In this embodiment the valve head. has a passage 20 connecting the majorbore behind the piston portion 10a with a chamber 21 in the valve head 2and a pilot valve 22 adapted for closing said passage 20, said chamber2i having an outlet passage 23 with a nozzle 24 serving as a dischargemeans for the fluid contained in the chamber 21. Pivotally mounted on adouble bracket 25 connected to the valve head 2 is a bucket 26 which isdivided into two compartments 27 and 28, said bucket 26 being pivotablebetween an upright position and a lowered position as indicated in FIG.2. In the lowered position of the bucket 26 a portion 29 of the bucketlocated between and attached to the two compartments of the bucket isactuating the pilot valve 22 in a camlike fashion and closing the pilotvalve 22. Further the valve head 2 comprises a regulating screw 30 forcontrolling the discharge through the nozzle 24. A further regulatingmeans comprises an extension of the bucket 26 downwardly and forming aboss 31 being provided with a bore having screw threads and a threadedweight 32 which is screwed into the boss for correct balancing of thebucket 26. The two compartments of the bucket 26 are arranged in such amanner that in the upright position of the bucket 26 the compartment 28will be emptied of its contents and in the lowered position of thebucket 26 the other compartment 27 will be emptied of its contents. Thepilot valve 22 simply consists of a small needle valve which may bemoved between an open and a closed position, the latter being indicatedin the drawing and the valve is actuated by means of a portion 29 of thebucket 29.

The operation of the control valve is as follows:

The fluid enters through the inlet port 3 and pushes the piston 10provided the pilot valve 22 is in open position which means that thebucket 26 must be in its upright position. Simultaneously the fluid willflow through the bypass 14 into the major bore behind the piston andthrough the channel 20 into the chamber 21 and through the outletpassage 23 and the nonle 24 and trickle down into the compartment 27 ofthe bucket 26. It will be obvious that initially the fluid pressureacting on the smaller area of the stepped piston will be larger than thefluid pressure acting in the larger area of the stepped piston and thuscause the opening of the main valve 5, 11 (FIG. 1). In this position ofthe valve the fluid will flow freely from the inlet port 3 to the outletport or passage 8 and in use the inlet port 3 will be connected to afluid supply and the outlet portion or passage 8 is connected to a hoseand further to a sprinkler or spraying device or any other kind ofoutlet to be controlled.

The. fluid flowing through the bypass l4 and through the variouspassages or channels in the valve head 2 will drip into the compartment27 of the bucket 26 and slowly till it up. As the compartment 27 of thebucket 26 fills up with fluid a vertical line through the center ofgravity of the fluid body in the compartment 27 will move past the pivotpoint 33 and the bucket 26 is so balanced and constructed that, when thecompartment 27 is nearly filled up, the bucket will tilt to a loweredposition as shown in FIG. 2, closing the pilot valve 22 by its tiltingmovement. When the pilot valve is closed, the fluid pressure in thechamber or major bore 9 behind the piston portion [a builds up and thiswill cause movement of the port or passage of is connected to a closedposition of the main valve 5, 11. In the lowered position of the bucket26 most of the fluid collected in the compartment 27 will be split overthe edge 34 of the compartment 27, but the remaining amount of fluidwill be sufficient to maintain the bucket 26 in the lowered position andthe pilot valve will thus remain closed. The remaining fluid in thecompartment 27 will start evaporating and the rate of evaporation willfollow closely the evaporation rate from the soil or other objects thatmight be sprayed. The bucket 26 is open and so constructed that rain ordrizzle will fall into the compartment 27 and keep the bucket in alowered position, if the valve for instance is being used for wateringand placed outside in the free atmosphere. When the compartment 27 is ina lowered position and fluid is evaporating from the bucket 26 thecompartment 28 is in a lifted position and when the weight of the fluidbody in the compartment 27 decreases to such an extent that a smalldegree of tilting of the bucket 26 takes place and consequently thepilot valve 22 starts to open, fluid will start to drip down from theupper edge of the chamber 21 into the compartment 28. This will create acounterweight which will accelerate the tilting of the bucket '26 to theupright position. In this position the fluid collected in thecompartment 28 will be emptied, the pilot valve 22 opens completely andthe stepped piston is moving to an open position of the valve and fluidwill again flow freely through the valve and into the outlet port 8. Itwill be noted that as the stepped piston moves in either direction thepressure in the major bore 9 in front of the piston portion 10a willchange very little since this chamber or major bore is connected to theatmosphere by means of the breather passage 15.

It will also be noted that the time taken to fill up the compartment 27while the bucket 26 is in an upright position may be regulated by meansof the adjusting screw 30 and that this time is identical to thespraying or sprinkling time. It will further be noted that the time ofthe intervals between spraying can be regulated by adjusting thethreaded weight 32 since screwing the weight forward or backwards willdecrease or increase the initial torque created by the weight of thefluid body in the compartment 27 when the bucket 26 is in a downward orlowered position, thus regulating the amount of fluid which has to beevaporated before the bucket is able to tilt to an upward or uprightposition.

What I claim is:

1. A valve comprising 1. a valve housing having a. an inlet port at oneend of the housing for admitting a liquid into the housing, and

b. a stepped bore extending through the housing from the inlet port toan end of the housing opposite the one end, the bore consisting of aminor diameter portion adjacent the inlet port and a major diameterportion adjacent the opposite end;

2. a valve seat at the junction between the inlet port and the minordiameter bore portion;

3. an outlet passage branching off the minor diameter bore of the valvehousing for delivering the admitted liquid;

4. a stepped piston slidable in the stepped valve housing bore andhaving a minor diameter portion and a major diameter portionrespectively slidable in the minor and major diameter bore portions,

a. the major diameter piston portion dividing the major diameter boreportion into two chambers, one of the chambers being adjacent the minordiameter bore portion and the other chamber being adjacent the oppositevalve housing end,

b. a constantly open bypass passage through the piston to permit theadmitted liquid to flow between the minor diameter bore portion and theother major diameter bore portion chamber, and

c. a breather passage in the valve housing for venting the one majordiameter bore portion chamber to the atmosphere;

. a valve seating member on the minor diameter piston portion forseating on the valve seat in a closed valve position wherein liquid flowfrom the inlet port to the outlet passage is cut oil and for beingspaced from the valve seat in an open valve position wherein the liquidflows from the inlet port into the outlet passage; and

6. means for controllably moving the valve seating member between theclosed and open valve positions, the moving means including a a. a valvehead closing the opposite valve housing end, the other major diameterbore portion chamber being defined between the major diameter pistonportion and the valve head,

b. a liquid receiving chamber in the valve head,

c. a liquid delivery passage in the valve head to permit liquid to flowfrom the other major diameter bore portion chamber to the liquidreceiving chamber,

d. a liquid outlet nozzle for trickling liquid from the liquid receivingchamber,

e. a pilot valve in the liquid delivery passage movable between a closedposition and an open position, the liquid pressure in the other majordiameter bore portion chamber increasing gradually when the pilot valveis in the closed position and liquid is admitted through the inlet portand the bypass passage for gradually movtion resulting in tilting of thebucket into the pilot valve opening position upon relatively minorevaporation of the liquid remaining therein, and

. a pilot valve operating member on the bucket for closing the pilotvalve when the bucket has been filled with liquid trickling from thenozzle: to assume the closing position and for opening the pilot valvewhen the bucket is in the opening position ready to receive the liquidtrickling from the nozzle.

2. The valve of claim 1, further comprising a set screw in the valvehead for regulating the liquid trickle from the liquid receiving chamberin the valve head through the outlet nozzle.

3. The valve of claim 1, further comprising an adjustable balancingweight for regulating the tilting of the bucket.

f. a tiltable bucket mounted on the valve head under the outlet nozzleto receive liquid trickling therefrom and to permit the received liquidto be evaporated 1O therefrom, the bucket being tiltable between a pilotvalve opening and a pilot valve closing position, the bucket beingconstructed to empty a large part of the received liquid when tiltedinto the pilot valve closing position whereby it assumes a relativelyunstable posi-

1. A valve comprising
 1. a valve housing having a. an inlet port at oneend of the housing for admitting a liquid into the housing, and b. astepped bore extending through the housing from the inlet port to an endof the housing opposite the one end, the bore consisting of a minordiameter portion adjacent the inlet port and a major diameter portionadjacent the opposite end;
 2. a valve seat at the junction between theinlet port and the minor diameter bore portion;
 3. an outlet passagebranching off the minor diameter bore of the valve housing fordelivering the admitted liquid;
 4. a stepped piston slidable in thestepped valve housing bore and having a minor diameter portion and amajor diameter portion respectively slidable in the minor and majordiameter bore portions, a. the major diameter piston portion dividingthe major diameter bore portion into two chambers, one of the chambersbeing adjacent the minor diameter bore portion and the other chamberbeing adjacent the opposite valve housing end, b. a constantly openbypass passage through the piston to permit the admitted liquid to flowbetween the minor diameter bore portion and the other major diameterbore portion chamber, and c. a breather passage in the valve housing forventing the one major diameter bore portion chamber to the atmosphere;5. a valve seating member on the minor diameter piston portion forseating on the valve seat in a closed valve position wherein liquid flowfrom the inlet port to the outlet passage is cut off and for beingspaced from the valve seat in an open valve position wherein the liquidflows from the inlet port into the outlet passage; and
 6. means forcontrollably moving the valve seating member between the closed and openvalve positions, the moving means including a. a valve head closing theopposite valve housing end, the other major diameter bore portionchamber being defined between the major diameter piston portion and thevalve head, b. a liquid receiving chamber in the valve head, c. a liquiddelivery passage in the valve head to permit liquid to flow from theother major diameter bore portion chamber to the liquid receivingchamber, d. a liquid outlet nozzle for trickling liquid from the liquidreceiving chamber, e. a pilot valve in the liquid delivery passagemovable between a closed position and an open position, the liquidpressure in the other major diameter bore portion chamber increasinggradually when the pilot valve is in the closed position and liquid isadmitted through the inlet port and the bypass passage for graduallymoving the valve seating member into the closed position under theincreasing pressure, and the liquid pressure gradually decreasing whenthe pilot valve is in the open position to permit the liquid flow fromthe major diameter bore portion chamber into the liquid receivingchamber whence it trickles through the outlet nozzle, f. a tiltablebucket mounted on the valve head under the outlet nozzle to receiveliquid trickling therefrom and to permit the received liquid to beevaporated therefrom, the bucket being tiltable between a pilot valveopening and a pilot valve closing position, the bucket being constructedto empty a large part of the received liquid when tilted into the pilotvalve closing position whereby it assumes a relatively unstable positionresulting in tilting of the bucket into the pilot valve opening positionupon relatively minor evaporation of the liquid remaining therein, andg. a pilot valve operating member on the bucket for closing the pilotvalve when the bucket has been filled with liquid trickling from thenozzle to assume the closing position and for opening the pilot valvewhen the bucket is in the opening position ready to receive the liquidtrickling from the nozzle.
 2. a valve seat at the junction between theinlet port and the minor diameter bore portion;
 2. The valve of claim 1,further comprising a set screw in the valve head for regulating theliquid trickle from the liquid receiving chamber in the valve headthrough the outlet nozzle.
 3. The valve of claim 1, further comprisingan adjustable balancing weight for regulating the tilting of the bucket.3. an outlet passage branching off the minor diameter bore of the valvehousing for delivering the admitted liquid;
 4. a stepped piston slidablein the stepped valve housing bore and having a minor diameter portionand a major diameter portion respectively slidable in the minor andmajor diameter bore portions, a. the major diameter piston portiondividing the major diameter bore portion into two chambers, one of thechambers being adjacent the minor diameter bore portion and the otherchamber being adjacent the opposite valve housing end, b. a constantlyopen bypass passage through the piston to permit the admitted liquid toflow between the minor diameter bore portion and the other majordiameter bore portion chamber, and c. a breather passage in the valvehousing for venting the one major diameter bore portion chamber to theatmosphere;
 5. a valve seating member on the minor diameter pistonportion for seating on the valve seat in a closed valve position whereinliquid flow from the inlet port to the outlet passage is cut off and forbeing spaced from the valve seat in an open valve position wherein theliquid flows from the inlet port into the outlet passage; and
 6. meansfor controllably moving the valve seating member between the closed andopen valve positions, the moving means including a. a valve head closingthe opposite valve housing end, the other major diameter bore portionchamber being defined between the major diameter piston portion and thevalve head, b. a liquid receiving chamber in the valve head, c. a liquiddelivery passage in the valve head to permit liquid to flow from theother major diameter bore portion chamber to the liquid receivingchamber, d. a liquid outlet nozzle for trickling liquid from the liquidreceiving chamber, e. a pilot valve in the liquid delivery passagemovable between a closed position and an open position, the liquidpressure in the other major diameter bore portion chamber increasinggradually when the pilot valve is in the closed position and liquid isadmitted through the inlet port and the bypass passage for graduallymoving the valve seating member into the closed position under theincreasing pressure, and the liquid pressure gradually decreasing whenthe pilot valve is in the open position to permit the liquid flow fromthe major diameter bore portion chamber into the liquid receivingchamber whence it trickles through the outlet nozzle, f. a tiltablebucket mounted on the valve head under the outlet nozzle to receiveliquid trickling therefrom and to permit the received liquid to beevaporated therefrom, the bucket being tiltable between a pilot valveopening and a pilot valve closing position, the bucket being constructedto empty a large part of the received liquid when tilted into the pilotvalve closing position whereby it assumes a relatively unstable positionresulting in tilting of the bucket into the pilot valve opening positionupon relatively minor evaporation of the liquid remaining therein, andg. a pilot valve operating member on the bucket for closing the pilotvalve when the bucket has been filled with liquid trickling from thenozzle to assume the closing position and for opening the pilot valvewhen the bucket is in the opening position ready to receive the liquidtrickling from the nozzle.